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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

PARADE names White Station's Joe Jackson first-team All-American

PARADE names White Station's Joe Jackson first-team All-American

The Commercial AppealBy Jason Smith Posted March 29, 2010 at midnight

Already highly decorated, White Station senior guard Joe Jackson became just the fourth player in Memphis high school hoops history today to be named to PARADE's All-America High School Boys Basketball first team.

Jackson, a 5-11 University of Memphis signee, is the first area player in 20 years named to PARADE's first team, joining former Treadwell High star Penny Hardaway (1990), former Northside great Richard "Master Blaster" Madison (1984) and former Overton standout Johnny Neumann (1969) as PARADE first-team players.

Earlier this month, Jackson was named the 2009-10 Gatorade Tennessee Player of the Year as well as Tennessee's Class AAA Mr. Basketball. This week, he's participating in McDonald's All-American Game festivities in Columbus, Ohio, where Jackson will be joined by fellow Memphis signee and PARADE third-team player Jelan Kendrick of Marietta, Ga.

Jackson and Kendrick will play for the East squad in Wednesday's McDonald's Game. He's also been invited to attend the 2010 USA Basketball Men's U18 National Team training camp in June in San Antonio, where Jackson will be one of 21 standouts vying for a spot on the 12-man U.S. U18 National Team roster.

As a senior this year, Jackson averaged 32.3 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals during the regular season. He finished his career ranked second on Shelby County's all-time scoring list with 3,451 points.

He led White Station to a 28-9 record this season and its third straight Class AAA state-title game, where his Spartans fell, 75-70, to nationally ranked Melrose.

The entire 54th annual PARADE team will be published in the Sunday edition of PARADE Magazine, which is included in The Commercial Appeal.

-- Jason Smith: 529-5804

FIRST-TEAM PARADE ALL-AMERICANS

Boys basketball players from Shelby-Metro schools who have been named first-team PARADE All-Americans: